The Case for Third-Party Marina Management

The marina landscape has been shifting from simple boat storage and repair to amenity-filled resorts. This change has brought in management companies to take a more prominent role in the industry, especially for marinas that are transitioning.

Trident Marine Group and Troon recently partnered to combine a marina management company with a golf and club management company, sharing expertise across two significant recreational industries. At first glance, golf and marinas seem to have little in common, but a deeper examination revealed industries that can learn from each other and together provide a valuable resource for marinas navigating a changing landscape.

Delivering a Better Solution
Grant Johnson, senior director of development at Troon, began his career in sales and marketing with a group that oversaw 30 daily fee and municipal-owned golf courses. At the time, Troon managed private, higher-end courses, starting with one course in Arizona but expanding to more golf courses and adding adjacent hospitality businesses. Johnson said ownership of the company changed several times, but the original vision remained. “How can we deliver a better solution for golf-related hospitality, and golf in a better way than the existing model?” he said.

Troon began looking at complementary hospitality companies from restaurants and tennis complexes to HOA management. “We’re not just a golf course company; we’re a holistic partner that delivers best practices expertise,” Johnson said. “We manage 600 courses across the country and have 1,000 relationships with HOAs, restaurants and more.”
The golf industry, like the marina industry, encompasses several types of businesses under one roof, from restaurants and shops to repairs and maintenance.

The parallel business models, plus the similar demographics between golfers and boaters, is why Troon became interested in working with Trident. The partnership has worked so well that Johnson said he envisions third-party management in the marina industry growing and replicating how that management style evolved in the golf industry decades ago.

Possibility to Improve Efficiency
Jeremy Parks, president of Trident Marine Group, learned the marina business when his family built a marina in Annapolis in 1974. He shifted into the construction and consulting side of the industry and added ownership of a Westin Hotel to his experience. He realized much of his hotel operations could be adopted by marinas to improve efficiency.

“We had three marinas and no one was paying attention to customer needs,” he said. “I kept bumping into the variables of marinas: restaurants, clubs etc. and trying to run each of them efficiently and effectively. That wasn’t our expertise.” He recognized that managing a restaurant differed from managing a service yard, although there were some similar administrative tasks. All the various businesses could benefit from the expertise of someone in that field, and an effective software management solution.

He started Trident as a marina management company that could bring a staff of experts within each division to guide how a marina operates, both back office and customer-facing. He was adamant that the uniqueness of each property should remain, but that the property would benefit from the wide expanse of resources and skills a management company would provide.

Creating a Cohesive Experience
While Parks was skeptical about whether a golf course management company would be a good match, he did his research. Johnson was quick to show the similarities. “Golf is intensive to run and requires expertise across several different businesses, from growing the grass to running a club, understanding the niche equipment requirements for the course, food and beverage and customer service. How do you make that one cohesive experience?” he said.

Third-party management of golf courses expanded with an influx of first-time course owners who entered the industry during golf’s boom time in the 80s and 90s. “People could build the courses, but no one knew how to run them,” Johnson said. “Management companies like Troon saw an opportunity to get in and fix things before it got really ugly.”

Similarly, the marina industry has seen rapid growth in the number of corporations and investors buying marinas without industry knowledge. The challenge is compounded by an evolving sophistication of boating consumers who expect high-level service at a marina, from concierge service to group discounts to top-of-the-line amenities.

For both Johnson and Parks, this makes now an ideal time for marina management companies to enter the picture.

The Value of a Management Company
While the influx of investors has dominated marina industry news, the reality is that many marinas are still smaller, independently owned operations. Parks estimates only about 10% of marinas are investor-owned resorts. He sees a management company as a way to level the field between Mom-and-Pop operations and corporations, leveraging a wide expanse of expertise and resources while noticing trends and opportunities.

There is a need for both high-end marinas and small shops where customers simply want a decent dock, clean restrooms and an opportunity to work on their boats. “People still look for Mom-and-Pop marinas. Maybe they can’t deliver fruit to nuts, but they can make it easier and better for customers,” he said. Third-party management can help bring forth changes to improve the customer experience.

He uses the example of a storm ripping through a property, leaving the owner to find suppliers and contractors. A management company will have already built those relationships, making recovery easier. “We don’t have to reinvent anything because we have someone who has already done it and learned the lessons,” he said, adding “There are economies of scale with third-party management.” A product with a sales contract across several businesses will have better pricing.

To help retain consistency for customers, Trident and Troon prefer to retain on-site staff who have historical knowledge and established customer relationships. Managers are given autonomy and are trained to make on-the-spot decisions. Parks feels that having just one model for how each property is managed doesn’t work and leads to a dissatisfied team and high turnover. If the team doesn’t take ownership and is disgruntled, it impacts the customer.

“We don’t want them always having to go up the chain (of management) to fix the challenge,” he said.

The Importance of Identity
Parks cautions that while third-party management can be an ideal solution, anyone considering such an arrangement should ensure their vision and outcome for the property is not only aligned with the management company but is the full focus of the group.

“You don’t want a group that comes in saying they know how to make your marina better,” he said. “There’s no way I can tell you that until I spend time getting to know your team, customers and property and where there is an opportunity to make changes. You want to keep the continuity of the experience you’ve chosen and your customers expect.”

Johnson added that for Troon managed golf courses, the brand and club name remain and the individual course dictates if and how to use the Troon brand. “You may not know we’re the manager. If we do such a good job that the club’s name is elevated, that’s not right for Troon to take credit because we don’t own it. We want the facility to earn the reputation, not Troon,” he said and that same philosophy carries to Troon’s work with Trident.

Park echoed this idea. “When customers show up to a property, they want a cohesive experience from wherever they set foot on the property,” he said. “They don’t care if there are different entities running each place, as long as they all work together. We deliver solutions under one lens of control and responsibility.” Trident and Troon envision their company as a holistic partner designed to deliver best practices expertise.

Just as a corporate buyout isn’t the answer for every marina, a third-party management company may not be either. But marinas today have options for creating the facility boaters want as their homeport, whether that comes with a pool and restaurant or just a DIY yard.

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